Anastacia thought she may need another operation after she ripped her muscle during rehearsals of ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.
The 48-year-old singer – who has survived breast cancer twice – was worried she’d need to go back under the knife after she injured the muscle buried under the scar tissue from her double mastectomy while doing a lift with her partner Brendan Cole.
Speaking on ‘This Morning’ on Thursday (13.10.16), she said: "The injury happened on Wednesday during an amazing, fabulous rehearsal that Brendan and I thought that we were in the Olympics. We were really having a great time. He was throwing me all over … He actually went to lift me under my arms and with my surgery that I had for the mastectomy, not only are your pecs here but my lat is also here so in him lifting me, it ripped my muscle and in my ripping my muscle, my muscles are surrounded by a bunch of scar tissue so it hurt.
"If I had ripped my lat it would have been game over and because I didn’t know which one I had ripped, there was a lot of anxiety about whether I’d need to go through another surgery. I’ve already gone through nine to actually be here and look female. So there were a mixed bag of emotions."
And, although the ‘Left Outside Alone’ hitmaker was banned from taking part in the dance off against Melvin Odoom – who ultimately left – in week one, she’s adamant she doesn’t want the judges to be more lenient on her and her routines.
She explained: "The next dance, they’re making this arm be more of the Rumba and this arm is doing side stuff.
"They [the judges] do understand that I may not be able to do a lot of lifts but lifts aren’t mandatory in any dance. They’re allowed in three of the dances in the show. In order to stay, I want to feel like I can compete on a level that everyone else is."
Anastacia – who was first diagnosed with cancer in 2006 before it returned in 2013 and she had a double mastectomy later that year to remove her breasts – is donating her ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ appearance fee to Cancer Research UK.